by Sally Colby
Eighth generation farmers Dan and Steve Gross have been farming for as long as they can remember, but growing demand for fed Holstein steers took the brothers’ Manchester, PA, cattle operation to a new level.
Dan recalls that for many years, the family’s Cold Spring Farms was home to about 130 calves at a time. Calves were housed in a variety of calf hutches and pens on the farm, but feeding and handling was inefficient. [Read more…]
Insure all of the animals in your care are well provided for as winter approaches.
by George Looby, DVM
Each year when the maples have dropped the last of their leaves the time arrives when we begin to look around our homesteads and begin the seasonal task of buttoning down for winter. It is an age-old ritual that never changes but as we check down the list of things to be done it is easy to slip and overlook one or more important tasks. High on the list should be insuring that all of the animals in our care are well provided for as winter approaches. [Read more…]
by Tamara Scully
Fresh cows are typically maintained on a slightly modified high-production cow diet. Unlike dry cow diets, where much of the research on transition cow nutrition has been focused, the postpartum period dietary requirements have been overlooked. But that will be changing, as researchers focus on fresh cow feeding strategies over the next few years, predicts Dr. Tom Overton, Cornell University, Professor Director, PRO-DAIRY. [Read more…]
Recently Land O’Lakes, a giant dairy cooperative located in the upper Midwest, announced to many of their dairy farmers on the East coast that they were going to impose a supply management program on the co-op members to commence Jan. 1, 2016. Some of their reasons may or may not be justifiable.
However, the large concern of Land O’Lakes program is, they left out of their program the strong need for their members (and all dairy farmers) to receive a realistic price for their milk. [Read more…]
by Jane Primerano
The image of a farm wife in a kitchen with steam hovering over the boiling canner, wearing a flour sack apron and a beatific smile is the stuff of old movies and 1950s television.
Women play every imaginable role on a farm, from management to marketing, and also in the parallel universe of community service. The Women’s Leadership Committee of the Farm Bureau has a long history of service in New Jersey. [Read more…]